Beside Them
by janya.wrote.nightrose
Summary: Those who stood behind them, those who stood against them, those who stood far away and watched them. Outtakes, in various perspectives, from Protect Her, showing the gifts of those on the outside to this tortured but true love. R&R if you read Protect He


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_The girl sat on the couch. It was a light blue couch, with silver stripes. The sun shone in through a high window. The girl's eyes followed the light, the shining golden gleam._

_ She did not look down. She did not look down. She did not look down._

_ You, however, do. You aren't as strong as the child. You don't have the willpower to keep your gaze away from her… from what's happening to her._

_ You cannot look and think about the green trees in the soft breeze and the gentle music of the birds._

_ Your eyes are drawn to a much less peaceful scene. _

_ The girl's hands are folded around her stomach, her eyes away, away._

_ She did not look down. She did not look down. She did not look down._

_ Because if she looked… she would have to see. She would have to admit it to herself. Yes, it was really happening…_

_ You, and no one else, can hear the quiet words that escape her lips. To the other person in the room, if he can be called that, she is perfectly still and impartial. And silent. There is no sign audible to him that she is in agony._

_ But you see her lips part, you hear the whisper. "No…"_

_ There is no reaction. No one notices. No one ever notices her… no one cares what she thinks of this. She isn't even a participant, really, just a victim in the wrong place, with no way to get away from this._

_ It wasn't happening. It wasn't real. This whole mockery of a childhood was nothing but a terrible dream. She would wake up at any time and still be a baby, an innocent, unhurt._

_ This would never have happened, because she was just a two year old girl. She wouldn't remember it. She had never been seven and afraid. She was too young for that._

_ This wasn't real._

_ You can see the thoughts flit across her face. It is easy to read. You know what she's thinking. You know what she is trying to force herself to believe… but she doesn't. If anyone else bothered to look at her, they'd see the same thing. It is no exceptional power in you beyond the one that brings you this vision._

_ "Look at me," a voice commanded. She didn't obey it, didn't force herself to meet the cruel eyes. But you did._

_ Dark and imposing and viciously awake. He, unlike her, knows it is real, knows what he is doing. And he is proud of it, proud to be torturing this innocent- no, that no longer, not after what she's suffered. But she's still a child, dependant on him for shelter and food and so much else, and he loves replacing those needs with torment._

_ Her eyes are the same color green as the trees they stare at, desperately denying the cruelty of the life as she _

_ Did not look down, did not look down, did not look down…_

I curl into his shoulder. His hands rub soothing circles on my back… "What did you see, Alice? Was it Edward again?"

"No… I don't know her… Oh, Jasper. How can people be so cruel?"

He didn't see what I'd seen. But he could feel the shock and horror I knew must be radiating from me. I'd never been human, not in my memory. But I knew it couldn't all be so cruel… could it? Could everyone have such pain to suffer, like Rose, like Esme, like the stranger girl? Could life really be so bad?

"Alice, my soul…" He tilted my chin up to meet his eyes. "Listen to me. Life is bad and hard."

"Then what's the point?"

"Well, it has its redeeming qualities. Love, Alice. We can love each other."

"How could she love anyone after that?"

He still didn't know the circumstance, but he understood at least a little of the emotion. "Trust me. You can always love. Whatever you saw, whoever you saw, if she was alive, she can love."

"I'm not alive."

"But you love me."

I smile at him. "That's true. And you love me… so I guess there's hope for her."

All I could do was hope. I'm sorry, stranger child. I hope for the best, and though I know it can't be enough, it's all I can do.

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